When looking at the future, it helps to take on the big picture. Really, will it matter THAT much to us if one "standard" is adopted over another? Probably not because if there is something we don't like, being informed users, we can find a way around it. Sure, we have the power to alter and mold what will come, but ultimately the average joe has the end comtrol of choosing what masses of people will use. As nerds, we've always weileded a great deal of power behind the scenes, but like it or not, the majority rules as far as what's written in the history books. Basically, this is my vision of what the internet, and computing in general, is coming to, or has always been. For most people, their internet appliance will become another part of the entertainment system, and besides playing games, surfing the web, and chatting, that will be the extent. Such evidence of this evoloution can be seen in the seperate, but along similar lines progress of the cheap pc vs. the next gen game console (PSX2, Dreamcast, Dolphin). Occasionally, you'll find people that wonder onto IRC or other parts of the online world seperate from the bright, shiny web, probably begging for whatever the latest thing to pirate might be, but in general, those people will stay as they are now, ignored. They'll go back to their happy world of the web and leave well enough alone. On the other hand, there will be power users, as always, who buy the best and biggest machines (when they can afford such), and who will largely effect the content the masses view, along with much that they have no idea is even there. This model also leaves room for the casual user who is elevated from the net appliance user because of his/her desire to learn or because he/she thinks that they are better than the masses. Such users make up what could be called a middle class. Really, things may appear to change, but somehow they always remain the same. Oddly, this leaves me with vaguely Gibsonesque images in my head of power users walking around with "whiz decks" and hardwired hookups, middle users playing with their bodysuits and eyewear, and the general populace checking out a flatpanel touchscreen. Well, the top category or two may be far fetched at the moment, but the bottom one is already beginning to take shape. Take it or leave it, just some rambling that had to make it out in the open.
Slashdot Mirror
When looking at the future, it helps to take on the big picture. Really, will it matter THAT much to us if one "standard" is adopted over another? Probably not because if there is something we don't like, being informed users, we can find a way around it. Sure, we have the power to alter and mold what will come, but ultimately the average joe has the end comtrol of choosing what masses of people will use. As nerds, we've always weileded a great deal of power behind the scenes, but like it or not, the majority rules as far as what's written in the history books. Basically, this is my vision of what the internet, and computing in general, is coming to, or has always been. For most people, their internet appliance will become another part of the entertainment system, and besides playing games, surfing the web, and chatting, that will be the extent. Such evidence of this evoloution can be seen in the seperate, but along similar lines progress of the cheap pc vs. the next gen game console (PSX2, Dreamcast, Dolphin). Occasionally, you'll find people that wonder onto IRC or other parts of the online world seperate from the bright, shiny web, probably begging for whatever the latest thing to pirate might be, but in general, those people will stay as they are now, ignored. They'll go back to their happy world of the web and leave well enough alone. On the other hand, there will be power users, as always, who buy the best and biggest machines (when they can afford such), and who will largely effect the content the masses view, along with much that they have no idea is even there. This model also leaves room for the casual user who is elevated from the net appliance user because of his/her desire to learn or because he/she thinks that they are better than the masses. Such users make up what could be called a middle class. Really, things may appear to change, but somehow they always remain the same. Oddly, this leaves me with vaguely Gibsonesque images in my head of power users walking around with "whiz decks" and hardwired hookups, middle users playing with their bodysuits and eyewear, and the general populace checking out a flatpanel touchscreen. Well, the top category or two may be far fetched at the moment, but the bottom one is already beginning to take shape. Take it or leave it, just some rambling that had to make it out in the open.